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| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Anton Adasinsky) in Faust. |
Deal with the devil
By Ed Rampell
Most theatergoers will have to make a Faustian bargain with the devil in order to be able to sit through this slow moving, sleep inducing, ponderous, subtitled 134-minute film in order to experience some striking images and profound insights into the human condition (plus a couple of erotic shots gloriously projected on the big screen). In Russian director Alexander Sokurov’s 2011 adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Johannes Zeiler places Dr. Faust, who literally sells his soul in order to obtain the beautiful Margarete (Isolda Dychauk) and infinite knowledge. Anton Adasinsky delivers a devilishly creepy performance as a misshapen, not so majestic satanic majesty who appears as a moneylender. (What better earthly persona for Mephistopheles than a pawnbroker?)
Brunno Delbonnel’s (who shot the crowd pleasing French romance, Amelie) sumptuous cinematography can be stunning, notably when Faust and Margarete fall into a lake together – the suggestion of drowning summons up the film’s theme – or when his camera is trained on haunting landscapes. He and Sokurov transport us back in time to 18th century Germany, and Faust has an alternately real and surreal look. I suspect the director of photography uses an anamorphic lens to distort images in a number of scenes to suggest the supernatural nature of this tale about man’s hubristic, arrogant quest to know, and have, all.
This Russian Faust in German (with English subtitles) has the grotesque imagery and content often dubbed “Felliniesque,” but Sokurov fails to conjure up Federico Feliini’s trademark sly wit and style to comment on the human condition with an underlying joie de vivre. This is the final installment in Sokurov’s tetralogy about power corrupting, and absolute power corrupting absolutely. His Faust may have won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion, but I prefer the charming biopic in theaters now about Faust’s author, Young Goethe in Love, which is actually a joy to behold.
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